Punch and die assembly having tool positioning means



March 29, 1960 v. WHISTLER, sR.. ETAL 2,930,271

' PUNCH AND DIE ASSEMBLY HAVING TOOL POSITIONING MEANS Filed Oct. 24, 1956 '11 4 )2 56 6'; zawmncevm fiuamr, BY 'Lawrencev WhisflanJzr,

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. M cam z United States Patent F PUNCH AND DIE ASSEMBLY HAVING TOOL POSITIONING MEANS Lawrence V. Whistler, Sr., and Lawrence V. Whistler, In, Kenmore, N.Y.

Application October 24, 1956, Serial No. 618,007

1 Claim. (Cl. 83-619) This invention relates to punch and die mechanism and particularly to a new combination of elements for effecting the location and assembly of a plurality of individual punch and die units, both for attaining the proper and precise location and spacing of various punchings and for effecting precise relative locations of a related pair of punch and die units with respect to each other.

The use of template plates for locating punch and die units has previously been proposed in conjunction with special punch holders and die shoes or other special mechanisms for cooperation with the template plates. In general, such template arrangements of the prior art have required the securement of the punch and die units directly to the template plates themselves, whereby the template plates become, in a sense, the punch holder and die shoe members and must be proportioned to provide sufiicient strength and rigidity for such service. An example of this type of template arrangement is found in Wales Patent No. 2,275,706, dated March 10, 1942, wherein the punch and die units are screwed directly to the templates and are thus retained and attached entirely thereby.

In the template locating arrangement of the present invention the template plates serve only a locating function and are not subjected to any of the stresses incident to punching operations or punch withdrawing forces, since they merely lie between the punch and die units and their associated platens or holding members and are thus subjected only to direct compression during punching or stamping operations.

The arrangement of the punching apparatus of the present invention is such that the only parts which need to be specially fabricated to produce a given punching or perforating arrangement, usually although not necessarily involving a considerable number of perforations spaced about a work sheet, are the two identical template plates themselves which may be of relatively light material because of the lack of any kind of deflecting forces thereon. The actual punch and die units themselves are generally standard and interchangeable and a given punch holder and die shoe combination may be used for a variety of perforating or punching set-ups by merely changing the template plates and installing the required standard punch and die units.

The punch and die units themselves are attached directly to T-slotted punch holders and die shoes by bolts engaging in the T-slots and the installation or removal of one or any of the punch and die units may readily be effected with the templates in place on the punch holder and die shoe and with the die set, comprising the punch holder and die shoe, installed in a press or not, as may be convenient.

Various objects and advantages of the punch and die locating and holding arrangement of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the accompanying drawing and the following detailed specification. However, it is to be understood that the form of the present invention thus illustrated 2,930,271 Patented Mar. 29, 1960 and described, in detail is by way of example only and that the present invention is not limited thereto or other wise than as defined in the appended claim.

In the drawing: a

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of the die portion of one form of the apparatus of the present invention with a portion thereof broken away to show the underlying supporting structure;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view on the line II-II of Fig. 1 but showing both the punch and die portions of the mechanism; and

Fig. 3 is a detailed perspective view of one of the hold down bolts for engagement in the T-slots of the punch and die supporting members.

.Like characters of reference denote like parts throughout the several figures of the drawing and the numerals 10 and 11 designate, respectively, a punch holder and a die shoe member. The punch holder is secured to the upper platen or reciprocating ram of a power press and the die shoe 11 is secured to the bed or bolster of such press in a conventional manner. The facing surfaces of the punch holder 10 and'die shoe 11 are T-slotted as at 12 and 13, respectively. In the present instance the punch holder and die shoe are guided for vertical movement in accurate alinement by means of guide pins 14 fixed to die shoe 11 and cooperating guide pin bushings 15 fixed to punch holder 10.

A perforating punch unit is designated generally by the numeral 17 in Fig. 2 and a cooperating perforating die unit is designated by the numeral 18. These punch and die units may be generally of the type illustrated in Whistler Patent No. 1,986,036 dated January 1, 1935. As shown in such prior patent, the punch unit comprises a slotted base portion 20, a perforating punch member 21 and a stripper mechanism designated 22 in Fig. 2.

Each die unit comprises a slotted base portion 24, a die bushing 25 for cooperation with punch 21, and a scrap discharge opening 26. The base portion 24 of the die.

unit has fixed to its under side a dowel member 27 which is in accurate vertical axial alinement with die bushing 25 and projects below the bottom surface of base portion 24. The base portion 20 of punch unit 17 is likewise provided with a dowel member 28 which is in accurate vertical axial alinement with punch 21 and projects upwardly from the top surface of the punch unit.

A template plate 30 is interposed between the several die units 18 and the top surface of die shoe 11 and a similar template plate 31 is interposed between the several punch units 17 and the adjacent surface of punch holder 10. The template plates 30 and 31 are generally identical so that they may be variously drilled and reamed as one for convenience and for accurate duplication. A description of the die template 30 will sutfice for both of the template plates 30 and 31, both as to their drilling and reaming and as to their method of assembly with respect to their associated die shoe and punch holder.

The templates 30 and 31 are detachably mounted against the die shoe 11 and the punch holder 10 by means of post members designated 34 and 35, respectively. The templates have alined reamed holes which fit over reduced end portions of the posts 34 and 35 as is clearly shown in Fig. 2 and the templates are detachably held on such posts by means of thumb screws designated 36 and 37, respectively, which thread into the ends of the posts. 7

Since the templates 30 and'31 are exact duplicates it is merely necessary, to insure accurate vertical alinement of the templates, to locate the posts 34 and 35 relative to the die shoe and punch holder in such manner that they are in exact vertical alinement when the guide pins 14 and bushings 15 are slidably engaged.

In the present instance the posts 34 and 35 are cast hea ers into position relative to the die shoe and punch holder by pouring matrix metal about the posts as at 40 and 41, respectively. This matrix metal is of a type which expands upon cooling and thus a secure embedding of the posts is assured. A convenient procedure is to first attach post 35 in its space in punch holder by means of a screw 43 and collar or Washer 44 and then pour molten metal about the post by way of a passage 46.

An accurately reamed bushing is then placed over the lower reduced end of post 35 and the upper reduced end of post 34 to insure accurate vertical alinement of the posts, the guide pins and bushings 14 and 15 being then in assembled guiding relation. Post 34 is then secured by means of a screw 43 and collar or washer 49 and molten metal is introduced by way of a passage 50 to form the embedding matrix 40. When the templates 30 and 31 are subsequently attached to posts 34 and 35 by means of thumb screws 36 and 37 accurate vertical alin'ement of the templates is automatically assured.

In preparing the templates 30 and 31, which, as stated above, is done jointly with the templates secured to each other, accurate holes for receiving the dowels 27 and 28 are formed wherever a punch or perforation is to be formed by a punch and die unit 17, 18. This may be conveniently done on a jig borer or by other layout methods. Such dowel openings are indicated at 53 and 54 in Fig. 1.

A convenient non-interfering arrangement of the punch and die unit base portions is then determined and clearance holes are formed in the templates 30 and 31 to clear the heads of the bolts 56 which secure the punch and die units by cooperation with the T-slots 12 and 13 of the punch holder and die shoe. These clearance holes may comprise separate drilled openings as at 58 and 59 in Fig. 1 or may comprise slots as at 60. The round openings are simpler to form and give a maximum sup port to the bases of the punch and die units but the slots 60 permit a certain degree of angular manipulation of the units to clear other units or for other purposes.

The T-bolts 56 have parallelogramhead formations as indicated in dotted lines at 61 in Fig. 1 so that the heads may be passed freely through the clearance openings of the templates and through the narrow portions of the T-slots 12 and 13. The bolts are then rotated in a clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 1 so that they automatically assume a. proper engaging position by abutting the sides of the enlarged undercut portions of the T-slots. Tightening action of the nuts 63 which secure the T-bolts 56 thus insures continued and secure engagement of the heads of the T-bolts 56 in the T-slots 12 and 13.

Any number of punch and die units may be assembled in the foregoing manner within reasonable space limitations. In Fig. 1 two die units 18 are shown in full lines and two other units are indicated in dot and dash lines, merely by way of example.

We claim:

Punch and die mechanism comprising holding members movable toward and away from each other for effecting punching operations, said holding members having facing surfaces each provided with a series of parallel T- slots, guide means acting between said members to guide the same for relative movement perpendicular to said facing surfaces, cooperating punch and die units adapted to be secured to said holding members in alined positions, each of said units comprising a base having a locating dowel and a longitudinal slot for receiving an attaching bolt, a pair of identical templates for locating the punch and die units, each template having a set of holes for each punch 'or die unit comprising a dowel hole for receiving the dowel of said unit and clearance hole means for receiving the head of an attaching bolt, said atttaching bolt having an oblong head whereby such head may be passed through a punch or die unit slot and the underlying templates clearance hole means and into a T-slot and rotated to engage said head in the bottom portion of the T-slot.

References Cited in the file 'of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,939,478 Whistler Dec. 12, 1933 1,986,036 Whistler Jan. 1, 1935 2,017,247 Hodge Oct. 15, 1935 2,275,706 Wales Mar. 10, 1942 2,381,476 Wales Aug. 7, 1945 2,649,157 Weisbe'ck Aug. 18, 1953 

